A brilliantly demented spectacle that eventually veers into science-fiction territory. Among its many attractions: a vision of television in which the performer views her audience instead of the other way around, changing channels to watch one fan after another.

3. Cartoon Factory
Written and directed by Dave and Max Fleischer

My kinda Clone War.

4. Ballet Mécanique
Directed by Fernand Léger and Dudley Murphy
Written by Léger

A Cubist ballet.

5. Au Secours!
Directed by Abel Gance
Written by Gance and Max Linder

A haunted-house farce, featuring a flurry of gags, camera tricks, and surrealist insertions.

6. He Who Gets Slapped
Directed by Victor Sjöström
Written by Sjöström and Carey Wilson

The slapping routine just might be the darkest comedy act in Hollywood history.

In the climactic chase, Harold Lloyd's character commits a series of larcenies and puts dozens of people's lives at risk, all to prevent a wedding that could have been easily annulled after the fact. Never mind, it's funny.

8. The Last Laugh
Directed by F.W. Murnau
Written by Carl Mayer

The most silent of silent dramas.

9. The Crazy Ray
Written and directed by René Clair

This list didn't have room for Clair's most celebrated film of the year, the enjoyably loopy experiment Entr'acte. But I couldn't leave out his strange sci-fi comedy about a machine that freezes a city in time.